Naboo Review
by ardavenport
Summary: Luke visits his mother's home world, and is visited by a the blue ghosties of the Jedi.
1. Chapter 1

**NABOO REVIEW**

by ardavenport

**- - - Part 1**

The X-Wing fighter came out of hyperspace, appearing out of a streak of stars into the black space over a green and blue planet.

Luke Skywalker adjusted his speed, gliding his ship into orbit around Naboo. R2-D2 already had made contact with the planetary space traffic control, the routine text scrolling across his screen.

"Commander Skywalker," a voice from the planet addressed him from over the com. He had not been a commander since the establishment of the New Republic, but he did not bother correcting people he talked to in passing.

"Skywalker," he answered, checking the landing coordinates forwarded to R2. They were for the hangar of the Royal Palace in Theed.

"Naboo is honored to welcome you. Queen Tamiya is eager to meet you. If there is anything we may do to serve, please feel free to ask."

"Acknowledged," he answered, then, ". . .permission for a change of flight plan?" Luke signaled a hold-com while he quickly keyed in a more circuitous orbit and flight path. He wanted to see the planet, but Naboo was very particular about keeping clear skies. He hoped that his status might allow him the chance.

"Please wait," the voice answered after Luke saw the 'com-received' blinking on his screen. R2 beeped an inquiry.

"Permission granted," the voice finally answered.

"Copy that," he replied, "Thank-you." He cut the com. R2 bleeped another inquiry.

"We're going to do a little sightseeing." R2 whistled approval.

Luke took the X-Wing in a spinning turn to a different trajectory before descending. After a quick reentry he flew high in the upper atmosphere over a blue ocean, only a few fluffs of clouds below, the sky layered from thin-atmosphere deep twilight down to light blue.

Another spinning turn took him lower, the mountains of a continent in the distance. Enjoying the pleasure of flying, Luke zoomed toward the land mass. It seemed that he had hardly ever flown so freely since he had been flying a skyhopper on Tatooine before . . . .everything had happened. Flying in the Rebellion always involved the threat and rush of attack at any time. On crowded Coruscant, where he spent most of his time at the Jedi Temple, flying was severely limited.

Luke's X-Wing crossed over the line between land and water. His new task of reviving the Jedi Order after more than twenty years of Sith rule left little time for flying anyway. Now released from the tangle of details that filled his days now - - the New Republic's reconciliation over the Empire's purge of the Jedi, the old Temple on Coruscant, who to choose to train, how to find them - - Luke felt as if he had not breathed fresh air since Emperor Palpatine had been defeated.

The rippled yellow-green hills grew larger, rolling into deep green forests. Luke gently swerved his ship around snow-capped mountain peaks, descending among them. Twisting rivers wound among dark green and gray valleys. To his left, Luke saw the spires of a mountain city, small in the distance, in the midst of wilderness.

Passing through the mountains Luke saw glints of lakes and tiny settlements.

So alive and beautiful, it was the kind of planet that Luke used to fantasize about traveling to when he got off of his uncle's farm on Tatooine.

Ahead, Luke saw a scar of black on the landscape. He swerved to circle a devastated plateau, only the spindly skeleton of a city that had defied and been crushed by the Empire remained. The Naboo were planning a memorial in the future, but for now they had left it as a reminder of what they had suffered under the Emperor.

Luke resumed his course, heading for the plains. In the distance, he saw small specks perched high over a green valley. His navicomp displayed his objective in yellow lines, the capitol city, Theed.

R2 bleeped confirmation of their approach. The landing permission scrolled on Luke's com screen and he tapped an automatic reply.

The hangar of the royal palace perched atop a cliff next to a graceful waterfall, the cluster of tan stone buildings and blue-green roofs of palace and city around it. Luke quickly killed his speed, cutting the engines and bringing his ship level. He eased it into the large enclosed space with the lifters. A line of official-looking persons waited for him.

As soon as he cut the power, techs rushed up, one with a ladder, two to remove his astromech. Glancing at the officials outside through the tinted canopy, Luke exhaled before popping the canopy.

Nobody cheered when he took off his helmet and got up (that had happened on other worlds), but he heard bodies snapping to attention. He climbed down.

"We are honored that you would come to our world for this dedication. I am Commander Senchu, your Highness," said a tall man in a maroon and black uniform with a graceful bow, a line of six militia members behind him. Luke did not correct him.

Technically, since his mother had been a former Queen of Naboo, he was a Prince of the Realm. It was a purely honorific title that ill-suited him and he had idea what to do with it, like a third sock. Leia had asked him not to refuse it; the Republic wanted good relations with Naboo. But she had dealt with having a title her whole life. Luke just hoped they would use his Jedi title. He did not think that 'Master' fit him either, but it was better than 'Prince'.

"It's an honor to be here," Luke answered sincerely, bowing in return.

"The Queen is waiting to meet you in her council room."

From above, R2 whistled for attention, two techs still disengaging the droid from the slot behind the pilot's seat.

"That's all right R2, stay with the ship."

Luke thought that R2's response was a bit disappointed and he smiled. R2 did like to be included in things. He walked with Sencho, his men and women forming an honor guard around them.

"Did you enjoy your excursion?" the commander asked politely.

"Yes, very much. Thank-you for allowing me to deviate from your usual approach."

"It was a pleasure for us, though I might add that our world is best viewed from the ground, and I hope you will avail yourself of that opportunity."

"I will," Luke replied.

They walked through the wide columned hallway, their boots clicking on polished floors. Though the Palace was not large as the enormous, damaged Jedi Temple back on Coruscant, Luke found it more elegant.

After taking the lift to a higher level, they passed through another hallway and then into a large room lit by daylight streaming through wide, many-paned windows.

The Queen waited for him behind a circular desk, a quartet of matched handmaidens behind her. A semi-circle of Naboo councillors sat in high-backed chairs on either side of it.

"Your Majesty." Commander Sencho bowed to his elected sovereign. "I present Prince and Master Jedi Luke Skywalker."

Luke bowed as well. "Your Majesty."

"Master Jedi. We are honored that you accepted our invitation." It was difficult to tell her age through the pale face-paint and red accents that smoothed her features to a formal mask of state, but Luke sensed that she was a few years younger than he. Though their tradition of selecting and training their Queens from the planet's youth had been badly disrupted during the reign of the Emperor, the Naboo had immediately resumed their traditions as soon as the Empire fell, though the planet remained undecided about joining the New Republic.

Resplendent in elaborate red, gold and purple robes and a red and gold headdress, the Queen of Naboo looked at him with young green eyes. She stood and her Councillor did as well. She came around the desk.

"It has been too long since the Jedi have been welcomed on our world," she said, coming to him. She was slender with a round face, but very short, the top of her headdress coming only up to his eye level. "They have performed great service to our world in the past and it is long past time for us to honor their sacrifices.

"The statue has been placed in the Palace Plaza. Do you wish to see it?"

"Yes, your Majesty," Luke responded. It was the reason why he had come, after all.

She smiled in return, a little warmth escaping through her formal posture.

The four attendants followed them out of the room, along with Sencho, the honor guard and all the Councillors. The handmaidens were as young as the Queen and all of them nearly as short as she was in their simpler maroon and blue dresses and veils. The Queen did not make any small talk as they proceeded down another stately hallway, but she kept stealing glances at him.

They entered a dome-ceilinged room with a wide balcony where the entire group spread out along the railing to look down on a plaza avenue.

The statue was certainly very large, at least ten times the person it had been fashioned after, who had reputedly been very tall in life. A mixed group of Naboo Humans and Gungans milled below, some of them guiding lift droids away, others with tools working on some carving on the base. The statue's stone was gray and pitted in places from years of being hidden underwater by the Gungans. This would be the second dedication of the statue, the first one having been just prior to the rise of Palpatine in the Senate of the Old Republic. And years before he seized power, after which a statue of a Jedi Master would be considered a dangerous sign of disloyalty to the Empire.

The first dedication had been during the reign of the Queen who's planet had been freed from a Trade Federation invasion, at the same time as the first appearance of the Sith in the galaxy in a thousand years. The Sith, that time, had been defeated, but not before claiming the life of a Jedi Master in combat, the same Jedi Master whose statue was being re-dedicated now.

Though its arms were at its sides, the statue stood in a wide-legged stance, the robe pushed back, revealing the carved lightsaber on the stone belt. The expression on the face was serious and stern.

An expression far different from Qui-Gon Jinn's ghostly, friendly smile looking up at Luke from the foot of the statue.

**- - - End Part 1**


	2. Chapter 2

**NABOO REVIEW**

by ardavenport

**- - - Part 2**

Luke had always imagined the Force presences of Ben Kenobi, Yoda and his father as bluish holo-images. He knew it was his own imagination, interpreting what he felt through the Force, like the way he 'saw' his surroundings with his eyes covered during lightsaber training. But the presences of his father and two mentors were fleeting. They came to tell him things, maybe answered questions, and then vanished, vanishing back into the Force.

This bluish image of Qui-Gon Jinn persisted.

He genially observed the argument amongst the Naboo officials gathered at the base of the statue of him to be dedicated in the plaza the next day. Luke felt amusement from this presence.

There was talk of adding a second statue, of Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had slain the Sith who had killed his Master, the deed that had earned him his knighthood. But the Naboo could not decide on whether to erect a statue of the young man of that time, or of an older Obi-Wan Kenobi, the famous general of the Clone Wars, as he was far better known in the galaxy.

They had tried more than once to get Luke to take sides, but he had humbly offered no opinion. He did not care. He doubted that Ben Kenobi would care. And he was sure that Qui-Gon Jinn did not care, though he seemed amused by the issue. Or was it Luke that this new Force presence was amused by?

"Councillors, please," the Queen interrupted. She had refrained from taking sides as well, but Luke sensed that she preferred the younger Obi-Wan Kenobi. "We should discuss this later. I am sure that our guest did not come all this way to hear us bicker."

At once chastened, the Councillors apologized for the distraction.

"Would you like to walk with me in the plaza, Master Jedi? Before you go on to see your family?" the Queen invited.

Luke inclined his head. "I'd be honored, your Majesty."

"We will take our leave for now," the Queen said to the others, clearly dismissing them. Some of them looking disappointed, but they withdrew.

"I was disappointed that your sister could not come with you, Master Jedi. I very much enjoyed meeting her," the Queen said as they walked side-by-side, four matched handmaidens silently tailing them.

"Her duties in the Senate take much of her time," Luke answered. Leia was an at-large representative in the Senate of the New Republic for persons displaced by the Empire, particularly the refugees of Alderaan, but also for some of the many populations that had been enslaved and removed from their home worlds. She had been to Naboo once before, on a mission with other Senate delegates to encourage Naboo to join the New Republic. The world remained friendly, but still uncommitted.

"And please, call me Luke, your Majesty," he finished.

He knew that he could ill-afford to take time away from his own duties, but lately it seemed that the harder he worked, the more complicated things got. More problems with the Temple, the Senate, people to meet, and a minefield of superstition and suspicion of the Jedi left behind in the wake of the long years of Sith rule. He had help, of course, from Leia and Han, Chewie and Lando, and well-meaning but not always competent supporters of the Jedi who had been hiding their true allegiances from the Empire. There had been an outcry when he had announced that he was leaving for a few days, but now, strolling through this peaceful plaza on this green planet, Luke knew that he had made the right choice. If everything fell apart while he was gone, Luke decided that it probably should.

The Queen smiled briefly and gracefully inclined her head before her expression became serious again. The mask of state. And she did not invite him to address her by an informal name. Luke knew that technically she did not have one when serving in her role as Queen.

"It is a time of much re-building," the Queen said, her eyes going to a large patch of paving in the plaza that was lighter colored than the surrounding, older stones. Luke had noticed the same mismatches in the coloring of the walls and roofs of some of the buildings around them. He supposed that the Naboo had deliberately left the repairs to their capital city obvious, as a reminder of the dark times under the Empire.

The presence and transparent image of Qui-Gon Jinn walked with them and looked down benevolently at the diminutive Queen's headdress. Luke had stared at it, looked away, winked, blinked and crossed his eyes, but Qui-Gon Jinn had said nothing to him but the handmaidens were looking at him with a little concern.

Thinking his thoughts loudly and clearly never seemed to work with the Force presence of his father, Ben or Yoda. He always seemed to need the extra prompt of voice to communicate, just as he needed to extend his hand to call his lightsaber to it.

When he had trained with Master Yoda on Dagobah, he had asked about Ben Kenobi's presence remaining with him after he had died. He had asked if all Jedi remained a living presence after death.

Yoda had said no. It had never happened before. Surprised, Luke had asked why only Ben Kenobi.

Yoda had said that there was another.

Then Yoda had admonished him to keep his mind on what he doing. On the training he needed. With an Empire and Sith to challenge and defeat, Luke had let the matter go.

Now Luke knew who the 'other one' was.

Luke hastily brought his attention back to what the Queen was saying to him. They had stopped before a narrow two-story building with a balcony that overlooked the plaza, modest in size, but decorated with elaborate curling stone carvings. Long flowering vines hung down from pots overhead.

" . . . . your sister enjoyed her visit to this museum of our rulers. I hope you will as well."

"I think I will," he answered.

They entered. Persons in blue and black uniforms bowed them in as they crossed the entryway. Apparently, they were expected. Qui-Gon Jinn glowed in the shadowed reception area with an eerie light that only Luke could see.

Proceeding through a high arched doorway, they entered a long hall of figures frozen in their own separate spotlight. Luke did not make any pretense about which one he was interested in. The Queen seemed to understand and she followed him.

This was not a carved statue or a hologram, but a lifelike replica. Elaborately gowned in red, black and gold robes and headdress, the whitened face and painted eyes stared blankly back through the mask of state. Queen Amidala.

His mother.

Luke had seen images of her before, eagerly read her history, even some of her writings. But this was the first time he had viewed her, on her own world, in the same way that the Naboo would see her. It felt different.

Next to the still figure, a long list of accomplishments glowed on a display screen. Participating in a raid on the palace to successfully capture the Viceroy of the Trade Federation and end the occupation of the planet was at the top of the list, at the beginning of her reign.

He turned at the sound of footsteps on the marble floor. A uniformed officer approached and bowed.

"Apologies for the interruption, Milady, but the Gungan delegation has arrived," she announced.

The Queen nodded and turned to him.

"Please, excuse me, Luke. But I must go to greet our Gungan brethren who will be joining us for the ceremony tomorrow. If you need anything, please ask one of the custodians here."

"Of course."

She turned and glided away, her skirts murmuring over the marble floor, the handmaidens following. A man in blue and black uniform remained by the door at loose attention, arms behind his back.

Luke turned back to the Amidala display and wondered about the woman underneath the mask.

// You should not dwell on the past, // the presence next to him admonished.

Luke turned to the image of Qui-Gon Jinn.

"Then what are you doing here?"

The look he perceived was one of surprise and Luke smirked back toward it. And then he noticed the curious look on the face of the museum custodian by the door. He looked away, pointing his eyes back toward Amidala.

// I am not here to dwell, // came the reply.

"You could have fooled me," he commented, keeping his voice low, but it still sounded loud in the quiet room. He felt a wave of amusement, but no more answers. He waited, but nothing else came though the presence stayed.

His eye followed the flow of the curling patterns on the skirts of Queen Amidala. Qui-Gon Jinn had met her. Known her, at least briefly. Defended her world. Died for it. But Luke hesitated to ask him about her. If he was not supposed to dwell on the past, he would likely only get cryptic questions to deflect his interest toward the things he should be concentrating on. Yoda had been very good at that any time he had ever asked about his parents during his brief time training with the ancient Jedi Master.

But what should he be concentrating on? All the complications piling up back on Coruscant? Or just a few? Or one? He wanted a plan, a way out of it, a clear goal toward training the others who had come to join the Jedi.

"What am I supposed to do?" he asked softly.

// Do what you must. //

Baffled, he looked toward the image and then away again. Ben, Yoda and his father appeared only briefly, but they usually could answer a simple question.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

// It means that if you ask a vague question, then you will get a vague answer. //

He exhaled.

"OK," accepting this as a fair response. "What was she like?"

He sensed disappointment in this question through the Force.

// She was brave and determined and devoted to her people and planet. She was everything the Naboo say about her. But I am not the person you should be asking. Or the person you should be answering. //

Luke smiled. This was not anything he did not know, but hearing it made the plain facts more real to him, more personal. And he had a fair idea of who he should be speaking with. He would be having dinner with them that evening.

"I don't know what I'm doing. Back on Coruscant," he admitted. "They're all expecting more and I don't know what else I can give them." Luke had thought he was prepared to lead, but as a Commander in the Rebel Alliance he had only dealt with battles and squadrons of fighters. Everything back on Coruscant was all about people and supplies and buildings and schedules.

The disappointment next to him lessened into. . . . . sympathy?

// Master Yoda taught you everything you need to know about being a Jedi. And you have taught us more than we ever imagined possible. //

The voice faded away and when he looked again, the Qui-Gon Jinn image was gone.

**- - - End Part 2**


	3. Chapter 3

**NABOO REVIEW**

by ardavenport

**- - - Part 3**

"Padme did bring your father here for dinner. Once," Sola Naberrie announced during another lull in the after dinner conversation.

Someone dropped a metal eating utensil onto a silicate dessert plate with a loud clatter.

"Only once?" Luke asked, looking up at his aunt.

"Yes," she answered. "He was protecting her from an assassin. It was not long before he and Padme were married." She averted her eyes. "But that was secret. She didn't even tell me about it until almost a year later."

Nobody else at the Naberrie family dinner table seemed interested in following up this topic.

Leia had stayed with the Naberrie's on her visit to Naboo and been warmly welcomed. Luke found them and friendly, but he had felt them holding him at arm's length since he had walked in the door. He had known why immediately.

Leia looked more like their mother. Luke looked more like their father.

So, the conversation had remained mired in ordinary topics like the weather in the lake country, the local fauna and pets. Luke had gotten some smiles when they had compared Sola's career as a waste systems engineer to his earlier life as a moisture farmer, but that moment of warmth vanished when Sola politely shut him out again. Dinner might have been spent in uncomfortable silence if his cousins Ryoo and Pooja, their husbands and his Aunt Sola's cousin Tresin and his special companion Megos had not started up their own conversations. About weather, the local fauna and pets. Having exhausted his expertise on those topics, Luke remained mostly silent while he ate his dinner.

Now, Luke sensed something more serious finally rising to the surface.

"Padme loved your father very much," Sola said. "He seemed a bit broody and silent to me, but . . . . he would look at her with. . . . longing. Padme laughed it off at the time since he was a Jedi and forbidden to marry. But that wasn't the case in the end. Really, she was infatuated with him. And I think that it was somehow more romantic and exciting for her that it was all done in secret."

A sudden thrill of panic flashed inside Luke as he felt a presence emerging nearby. But the image he saw standing by the wall, behind his cousins, across the table, was Qui-Gon Jinn again, not his father.

Luke took a steadying breath.

"You want to ask me about my father," he said, looking directly at his aunt.

"Sola. . . ." his Uncle Darred laid a hand on his wife's arm, but she dismissed his caution with a quick head jerk.

"Yes," she acknowledged, gathering her courage. "We were told, officially, that Padme was killed by the Jedi, during the insurrection. Of course, we did not believe this. But later, it was rumored that she was killed by Darth Vader," she finished with Anakin Skywalker's Sith identity.

"Yes. That part is true." Luke kept a steady gaze on her, as he said this.

Sola Naberrie looked away, closing her eyes, putting her napkin down. The other family members exchanged stricken looks.

"Thank-you," Sola replied solemnly. "I appreciate your honesty at least. And now if I might beg your leave. . . ." She pushed her chair back, but Luke stood up before she could.

"No, please. It is late for me, if you'll excuse me. I need to get up early for tomorrow."

Without hurrying, he left the table before any of them could either give permission or object. He did not need to get up any earlier than they did; they were all going to the ceremony. Entering the hall, he went to the stairway to go up to the room he had been given for the night.

The presence of Qui-Gon Jinn occupied the room as he closed the door.

Luke glared at it, now unimpeded by the potential embarrassment of other persons seeing him staring into space or talking to imaginary people.

"Why are you here?" he demanded. He removed his belt and laid it and his lightsaber on top of a polished wooden set of drawers.

// Because I am needed, // came the answer immediately.

"OK." He unwrapped the sash around his middle. "Can you tell the Senate that the Jedi Order won't be able to resume the same duties it had during Old Republic? For a while it's just going to be me." He neatly folded the sash, put it by the belt and began removing his vest. "Or could you tell Corran Horne and the others that being a Jedi is more than lightsabers?" The folded vest went next to the sash. "Or at least tell it so they'll _hear_ it?" He loosened his collar and took off his shirt. "Oh, and the roof of the Jedi Temple leaks and people complain about he halls being drafty."

// Do you need those things? //

Shirtless, Luke gaped.

"No, what I need is to fix it!" He threw the shirt down into a corner.

This got him no more of a reaction than he would have gotten from Master Yoda. Even less. Yoda would have been disappointed in him. Qui-Gon Jinn seemed completely unconcerned.

Turning away from the image, he strode to the window and looked outside. It was night, the gardens dark, the lighted windows of other houses in the distance. Closing his eyes, Luke exhaled slowly. He knew better than to get frustrated, but there it was anyway. It had been building up and now he finally had room to let it go.

Behind him the presence remained.

He opened his eyes. He saw his own transparent reflection in the window pane, the bluish image of Qui-Gon Jinn behind him.

"You can't help, can you?"

// That is for you to discover. //

Luke felt a little pleased that he took this non-answer better than the last one.

"I don't have time to do that. Everyone wants something and they think I'm supposed to know what's coming next. Or what I'm doing." he finished, his eyes on the bearded, bluish face. He had thought that when they reopened the Temple, recovered the Archives stolen by the Emperor and found others to help, that things would be clear.

// What are you supposed to be doing? //

Clenching his teeth, Luke whirled about and walked over the place behind him where he had perceived the Jedi standing. That space felt no different than any other. Qui-Gon Jinn was just as omnipresent as Ben or Yoda or his father, no more or no less in one place than any other. He snatched a pillow from a chair, threw it on the floor and sat down, cross-legged.

Closing his eyes, he cleared his mind, arms resting on his knees. In the Force, he still felt Qui-Gon Jinn's presence, but it was not a distraction. He had learned to quiet his thoughts and let go of far worse to meditate, like a room full of people yammering for attention.

For a time he saw nothing, felt nothing. Slowly, dingy, foggy greens intruded into his thoughts.

Dagobah.

Damp and rank. Muddy and full of snakes and slime.

Yoda's small mud hut, with the low ceilings that he always had to be careful of hitting.

Yoda turned to him from the fire in the hearth.

~~ Pass on what you have learned. ~~

The image shifted. Yoda remained, but now stood bent over his gimer stick on the polished floor in the immense entry hall of the Jedi Temple, light streaming in through the tall windows as it had before the purge. His coarse robes were new and un-frayed. And clean.

~~ Pass on what you have learned. ~~

And he heard his own voice answering in the large empty space of the Jedi Temple.

~~ I don't know what that is. I'm still learning it. ~~

Yoda smiled up at him, obviously very satisfied with himself.

Luke's eyes opened.

The ghostly blue Qui-Gon Jinn remained, standing by the window and looking mildly interested.

A slow smile curved Luke's lips.

Qui-Gon Jinn watched, his expression a little more interested.

He would pass on what he had learned. But he was still learning. So, what he had learned was a moving target. It had always been that way. He had just forgotten it. Become wrapped up with grand plans of how to teach others how to be Jedi when that was still in flux.

He sighed. The crowd of touchy archivists, fussy builders, their droids and demanding Jedi wannabes and their families and hangers-on back in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant would be unhappy to be presented with this revelation, that the future of the Jedi was in flux and unknowable. But his task was not to make them happy.

Which was also something that he had forgotten.

And someone else could fix the roof. People had been offering to help; he needed to learn better how to let them.

He looked up at the transparent presence before him. The Qui-Gon Jinn presence tilted an imaginary head, curious.

Luke smiled, but said nothing. He relaxed his shoulders and closed his eyes again.

**- - - End Part 3**


	4. Chapter 4

**NABOO REVIEW**

by ardavenport

**- - - Part 4**

They were going to be late to the ceremony.

Luke had been ready at the appointed time to leave, but it took a surprising amount of time to get that many Naberries into the great boat of a transport they were using. They were all bringing the small children, more distant cousins and family friends who had been absent at the evening dinner. Palace guards, sent to collect them, nervously reminded the adults of the time and spoke urgently into their coms.

Luke calmly stood by his borrowed speeder bike from the palace and watched the frenzy of loading and then someone popping out with something forgotten and then re-loading, while others yelled for the one or two cousins still inside. The ceremony really could not begin without him, so he expected that the people at the palace would improvise until they arrived. One guard had politely suggested that Luke go ahead with a small escort. Luke had equally politely had declined to leave his family behind.

"Sola!" Darred Janren yelled for his wife. She and Ryoo appeared, the last two. They hurried toward the transport, but Sola suddenly stopped by Luke. She dropped the hem of her long blue dress and brushed a stray strand of brown hair from her face.

"Luke. I didn't mean to avoid you . . . "

He was sure that she had. He had shared breakfast with only Tresin and Megos, who seemed to have warmed to him, while the rest of the household was conspicuously busy getting ready for the day. The two men wore matching, simple gray suits and complained about all the extra frills that had come into style lately and concluded that the only good thing about the Empire had been the simplicity of its fashions.

". . . I know you're supposed to leave after the dedication today," Sola stepped close to him, while worried palace guards looked her way, "but I was hoping you would stay an extra day. I don't think we've properly welcomed you to the family."

"I'd be happy to," he agreed immediately. He was expected back on Coruscant, but the people back at the Temple could improvise until he returned.

"Thank-you."

She lunged forward in a clumsy forward hug, her body still held away from him. He only touched her arms in return.

"You're more like Padme than you know," she said in his ear. Then she broke away and hurried to the transport, the guards helping her inside.

Luke climbed onto his speeder bike, started the engine and followed the slow moving transport out toward the gate. Two palace guards on their own speeder bikes flanked him, while two led the transport out.

As soon as they were out of the village their procession sped down to the plains, Theed in the distance. They zoomed over the tall grasses, riding over the gentle rises and falls of the terrain until only flat land lay before them and the city. Luke could see the movement of colorful crowds and transports. Blue and red flags waved from the towers.

City guards cleared their way into the paved streets through cleared back ways. Commander Senchu and two guards waited for him at the back entrance to the Palace that they finally arrived at.

"I do not wish to rush you, Master Jedi - - " Senchu said, completely contradicting his body language.

"Its OK," Luke reassured him. They were up the stairs into the palace before the Naberrries had unpacked themselves from their transport.

They double-timed through the halls, up to the balcony where they viewed the statue the day before. They had reviewed his part in the ceremony before he had gone to the Naberries village.

He had no speaking part. He simply had to walk by the Queen's side, visible to the crowd while a token of unity was exchanged between the Gungans and the Naboo and the statue was unveiled. That was it. There would not even be any speeches. The Naboo preferred to keep their ceremonies simple. There would be a mass celebration in the plaza afterward.

They arrived at the balcony and stepped into the sunlight. A solid crowd of brightly dressed people filled the long palace plaza below. The line of blue and green draped handmaidens looked his way. And then the Queen. Face white, lips and cheeks dabbed with bright red, her gown and headdress plumed and sparkling in the daylight. She quirked a smile at him as he took his place on her left. An enormous rotund Gungan in lavish gold and blue robes on his left leered in his direction before turning back to the crowd. A line of skinny Gungans in ceremonial body armor stood to the right of the Gungan Boss-man. A mix of well-dressed Naboo and Gungans filled the rest of the balcony.

On a high pedestal between the Queen and the Boss-man a globe of unity sat glowing brightly. The exchange of friendship had already taken place and they were simply waiting for him for the final dedication. Below, the statue was covered with a long blue covering that rippled in the light breeze, a mixed group standing in a circle around it with a ring of formal palace and Gungan guards around them.

The music started. Drums and melodious percussions.

A Gungan chorus began softly singing to the rising sound.

_- - Heeza ina meeza, heeza ina youza_

_- - Heeza ina meeza, heeza ina youza_

_- - Heeza ina meeza, heeza ina youza_

_- - Heeza ina meeza, heeza ina youza_

The crowd cheered, responding to the singing.

A clear male Naboo voice started.

_Night_

_And the spirit of life_

_Calling_

The chorus of Gungans continued, complimenting the singer.

_- - - blow low, hullo_

_Hear it call_

_- - - blow low, hullo_

_And a voice_

_That you hear in the wind_

_Answers_

_- - - blow low, hullo_

_Oh, when it calls_

_- - blow low, hullo_

_- - hearza mui biggo hero_

_- - Weza be heeza voice we be_

Below two Gungnas and two Naboo grasped cords hanging from the blue fabric covering the statue. Luke saw the transparent image of Qui-Gon Jinn fade into view near them and, smiling, look up at him.

_Stay_

_You can hear what it says_

_Hear the spirit in you_

_- - blow low, hullo_

_Ooo-ooooo-ooooh_

_- - blow low, hullo_

_In you._

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

The song rose into a higher, enthusiastic melody, the Naboo singer and the chorus's words crossing, complimenting each other. The four at the base of the statue pulled on their cables, revealing the statue of the Jedi Knight who had passed on to the Force. The blue cloth billowed away. The crowd cheered louder.

_He lives in you_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_He lives in me_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_He watches over_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_Everything we see_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_Into the water_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_Into the truth_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_In your reflection_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_He lives in you._

Luke felt the more familiar presence of Ben Kenobi joining his old Master at the base of the statue below. But the image he saw was different. Not an old man, but a young Jedi apprentice, beardless with short hair and a long thin braid behind one ear.

_- - Heeza ina meeza, heeza ina youza_

_- - Heeza ina meeza, heeza ina youza_

Obi-Wan Kenobi seemed to realize that Qui-Gon Jinn's presence influenced how Luke now saw him and he looked embarrassed, then annoyed at the source of this change.

The guards around the statue raised their arms and shouted with abandon with the crowd.

_He lives in you_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_He lives in me_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_He watches over_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_Everything we see_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_Into the water_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_Into the truth_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_In your reflection_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_He lives in you._

_- - Weeza hear you, hearza you_

_He lives in you._

_- - Hearza you, hearza, hearza, hearza you, hearz you_

_Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooooh_

_- - blow low, hullo_

_Ooo-ooooo-ooooh_

_- - blow low, hullo_

Now Luke felt the presence of his father, with him on the balcony.

// Did you know that calling me back from the dark side would break the Sith? That I could - - even after all I had done, what I had become - - that I could still destroy the Emperor? //

Luke looked up at the clear blue sky above.

"No. I just did what I felt I must."

_We stay_

_We can hear what it says_

_- - blow low, hullo_

_Hear the spirit in you_

_- - In you._

Luke turned to look on the image of his father next to him, but found a blond-haired boy in Tatooine peasant clothes, small next to the shouting Gungan he stood behind. The young face scrunched up in annoyance, the expression aimed toward the statue of Qui-Gon Jinn. Luke smiled and laughed.

The people in the plaza danced, waved flags and threw colored confetti. Another chorus joined the first Naboo singer.

_He lives in you_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_He lives in me_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_He watches over_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_Everything we see_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_Into the water_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_Into the truth_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_In your reflection_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_He lives in you._

The Queen, her gown now speckled with confetti, streamers caught in her headdress, grinned and winked at Luke before turning back to her jubilant constituents below.

Luke laughed aloud when he saw that the two bluish, transparent images had been joined by Yoda. And Qui-Gon Jinn was now transformed from the calm, wise Jedi Master to a startled skinny, leggy apprentice with messy hair. And younger than Obi-Wan who grinned.

Master Yoda looked quite smug.

_He lives in you_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_He lives in me_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_He watches over_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_Everything we see_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_Into the water_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_Into the truth_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_- - Huzzah, weza hearza_

_In your reflection_

_He lives in you_

_- - Heeza ina meeza, heeza ina youza_

_- - Heeza ina meeza, heeza ina youza_

_He lives in you._

**%%%X%%% END %%%X%%%**

(This story was first posted on tf.n: 25-Sep-2008)

**Disclaimer:** All characters and situations belong to George and Lucasfilm; I'm just playing in their sandbox.


End file.
